Ingredients: 4 servings

Steps

1.
Prep the ingredients you'll put inside the chicken rolls. Cut the sliced cheese into 4 pieces. Adjust the amount of umeboshi paste depending on how salty it is. I use homemade umeboshi which is quite sour so I only use a little.

2.
Remove the sinew from the chicken tenders and then butterfly them by slicing them almost all the way through horizontally and opening them up. A few holes in the meat are fine. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

3.
Smear the grainy mustard over one side of the chicken, put a piece of nori and cheese on top, and roll it up tightly towards the pointy ends of the chicken. Secure the rolls with wooden cocktail sticks. Make 4 rolls.

4.
This is my daughter helping me out.

5.
For the remaining 4 rolls, smear some umeboshi paste on one side, put on a shiso leaf and roll up.

6.
This is how they look.

7.
Coat with flour and fry in a frying pan coated with oil. Start over high to medium heat with the rolled ends down and brown.

8.
When browned, take the cocktail sticks out and turn the rolls, and continue frying until they are evenly browned all over. Lower the heat and put on a lid, and steam-cook until cooked through. It should take about 2 to 3 minutes but please adjust the time.

9.
This is how they look finished. They look like this cut in half. The one on the left is the nori-cheese, and the one on the right is umeboshi-shiso.

10.
I put it in a sports festival bento. (Recipe ID: 220054)

11.
This is my oldest daughter's 2009 sports festival bento.

Story Behind this Recipe

After many attempts I finally nailed down the procedure for this so I uploaded it.

Helpful Hints

The nori seaweed is one big sheet cut into 8 pieces. The only flavoring is from the nori I think? The filling can be varied in many ways so please try different combinations to your taste. If you use cheese and buasil for instance try it with a tomato sauce; pizza sauce and cheese may be good too. Korean nori seaweed and gochujang may be good too. You can also deep fry this coated in breadcrumbs or tempura batter.